IceCaps Fall to Marlies
Posted by IceCaps on
February 24, 2013 at 11:19 pm

The St. John’s IceCaps were defeated by the Toronto Marlies 5-4 Sunday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum.

Despite sporting the Marlies leads of 4-0 and 5-1, the IceCaps nearly made an incredible comeback, battling back to score three times in third period but ultimately falling just short.

The Marlies scored five times in the second period with first star Jake Gardiner factoring in on three of those tallies, scoring once on the power play and adding two assists. Dylan Yeo and Ryan Hamilton each had a pair of assists for Toronto, while Mark Owuya got the win after stopping 36-of-40 shots.

For St. John’s, Kael Mouillierat had a goal and two assists and Dean Arsene had two helpers. Spencer Machacek, Patrice Cormier and Ben Maxwell also scored, while Mark Dekanich was tagged with the loss, making 17 saves.

After a scoreless first period, the Marlies took the lead at 5:23 of the second on a goal by Kenny Ryan. Toronto moved up ice and Ryan pounced on a loose puck to Dekanich’s left, blasting a slap shot past the IceCaps’ netminder to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

Toronto extended its lead to two close to the midway point of the frame. After a turnover in the IceCaps’ zone, Yeo’s shot from the point got through and Will Acton was on the doorstep to knock in the loose puck to make it 2-0.

The Marlies made it a 3-0 game minutes later on a two-man advantage after Jason Jaffray and Ben Chiarot were sent to the box. Gardiner took a pass in the high slot and wired a slap shot through traffic and past a screened Dekanich, giving Toronto a three-goal lead.

At 16:36, Toronto went up 4-0 after a great effort by Jerry D’Amigo. The New York native raced past an IceCaps defender and buried a shot low on Dekanich to give the Marlies a 4-0 lead.

St. John’s got on the board on a nice shorthanded effort by Mouillierat at the 18:42 mark. Mouillierat gained the Marlies zone on the left side and let go a hard wrister that eluded Owuya to pull the IceCaps to within three.

The Marlies, however, got that one back in a hurry. Carter Ashton sped down the right wing and picked up the loose puck, beating Dekanich on the short side with just 37 seconds left in the period to give Toronto a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 advantage after 40 minutes of play.

St. John’s got one back with 7:25 left in the third to make it a 5-2 game. Maxwell took a pass from Arsene near the top of the right circle and snapped a shot that beat Owuya high on the glove side to cut the gap to three.

With 1:01 left in regulation, the IceCaps drew to within two goals on a power play marker by Cormier. Mouillierat threw the puck towards Cormier in the slot and the New Brunswick native redirected the puck past Owuya to make it 5-3.

The IceCaps kept coming, making it 5-4 on a goal by Spencer Machacek with just 8.5 seconds on the clock and Dekanich on the bench for the extra attacker, but it was too little, too late for St. John’s.

The IceCaps wrap up their six-game road swing Tuesday night in Hamilton against the Bulldogs before returning home for six games, beginning next Friday and Saturday against the Manchester Monarchs. Catch all the action with broadcaster Brian Rogers at stjohnsicecaps.com and on 930 AM This Is Newfoundland Labrador, or watch online at ahllive.com. Tuesday’s contest begins at 9:00 p.m. NT, with the pregame show getting underway at 8:30.

Notes:
D Will O’Neill picked up his first fighting major of the season when he dropped the gloves with Andrew Crescenzi early in the third period. It was the second fight of O’Neill’s pro career… O’Neill recorded an assist for the second straight game and has six helpers over his last six games… F Kael Mouillierat has seven points (1G, 6A) in his last two games. His second period marker was the IceCaps fourth shorthanded goal of the season… F Ben Maxwell has a goal in consecutive games… The five goals allowed in the second period marked a new franchise high for goals allowed in one frame.